Day 21- Friday 21st March- Singapore

Another breakfast at Toastbox was very nice indeed; I had thick toast with honey this time and it had a lovely buttery taste. After this, we walked back to the hotel quickly before hopping onto the internet. I was trying to organise an MSN rendezvous with Anna and we'd agreed on 8pm that night, so I only went on for 20 minutes at this point. I head back up to the room while the girls finished their 2 hours on the internet. I spent this time writing my journal, listening to Adam and Joe and watching Always Sunny.
When the girls came back, we listened to music before, at 5, I decided I was completely bored and wanted to go into town. Sarah decided to join me, even though she knew she would spend money that she didn't have. First, we went to a store called Astroboy which only sold clothes with the video game character, Astroboy, on. The stuff was pretty cool and they had a 30% off deal on, so I bought a cool holographic t-shirt for about £5! We continued looking around, finding a massive, chaotic arcade in the basement of a shopping mall. We also discovered a neat little comic book store which had a lot of awesome merchandise, including a plush Meatwad and an 18" Patrick Bateman. I saw some Lost figures and was tempted, but they were about $50, or £20. It's a good thing they didn't have any Jack Bauer figures because I would have been unable to stop myself.
We head back to the hotel for about 7:15 and then head straight out to the food court around the corner for another dose of delicious duck noodles. At 8, it was time for the MSN rendezvous. The cafe was full up so I had to use the internet in the hotel lobby, but Anna never turned up! Ho hum. We watched Starsky and Hutch before bed at midnight.

Day 20- Thursday 20th March- Singapore

Sarah was up early, coughing a lot. Her cough seems to be getting better now, but she has the occasional fit when around air conditioning. Hannah and I woke up at 10:30ish and I was very hungry indeed. We decided to walk to Toastbox, a toast restaurant, for breakfast. It was about 10 minutes away, aw=round the corner from Topshop and Starbucks. It was a nice little place; I ordered 'Traditional toast', which was like a toasted sandwich with honey in the middle. The girls got 'Thick toast' which had been cut up into little toasty cubes. After this, we went back to the hotel.
About midday, I went by myself to try and find the post office to send Anna's birthday present. It was difficult to find it, seeing as I couldn't understand the obnoxious hotel receptionist's directions. I asked a man if he knew where it was, but before that, I asked if he spoke english and he seemed offended and therefore unwilling to help. I continued searching, looking for a large building, but eventually found it as a small branch inside a shopping centre. I sent Anna's stuff off as well as a few postc ards. Back at the hotel, we plugged into our iPods for a bit before setting off for an evening out.
We caught the MRT at Bugis to 'Harbourfront', where we found ourselves in a huge shopping mall called 'Vivocity'. From here, we bought tickets to Sentosa.
Sentosa is an island off the south coast of Singapore. It has been turned into a theme-park-resort kind of thing and is pretty much Singapore's main tourist attraction. It is also the most southern point of continental Asia apparently. To get to Sentosa, we had to catch a monorail train for $3. This monorail took us over the channel that separated Sentosa from Singapore and also took us over a huge building site where parts of the resort were still being completed. The views over the city were spectacular. We passed the 'Merlion'- a statue of a lion with the tail of a fish; Singapore's top tourism symbol. This confused me somewhat because I had sent out postcards depicting the merlion as a 10 foot tall fountain in the city. This Merlion was not in the city. Nor was it a fountain. Oh, and it was a hundred feet tall.
We got off the train at the beach and the first thing we did was buy tickets for the 'songs of the sea' show later on. We then walked up towards the Merlion, which was wholly underwhelming. You could go to the top of it for $8, but we decided this would be a waste of money. We continued exploring, finding few attractions and far between. Sarah wanted to go on the luge ride, but $9 is ridiculous. We found a gift shop, but once again, everything in it was a waste of money. I looked at some '3D photo blocks', which were blocks of glass with 3D images engr aved into them with lasers. I chatted to the man selling them about how they were made. He seemed desperate for someone to buy one.
The only exciting part of the park we could find was a Subway, where we had dinner. By now it was 6:30 and we walked to where the show was being held an hour later and waited. The park had

been exhilaratingly rubbish, so we didn't expect high things from the 'Sounds of the Sea' show. We were very surprised. As the sun set in an orange blaze, a mist filled the stage which was set up out in the ocean. The amphitheatre was nearly full and eight very annoying actors came out and mimed a pre-recorder soundtrack. Out on the stage at sea, impressive pyrotechnics were set off and lasers were projected into the mists to create 3D images in mid air. The plot and actors of the show were dire, but the effects used were genuinely very impressive.
We left Sentosa, happy with the show, but also very happy to be leaving such an awful theme park. I really don't understand why so many people were there. It was like Singapore's equivalent of the Millennium Dome.

Day 19- Wednesday 19th March- Singapore

Today we left Thailand. We all kind of sighed a sigh of relief at this because we were all thouroughly bored of it.
We woke up at 6am and did some final packing before having our final Thai breakfast at 6:30. Sarah dropped a slice of pineapple in her cereal. At 6:50, we were in the hotel lobby, paying our room service bill, which came to an impressive 8000THB, which is about £130. This is quite a lot for a room service bill for the three of us, but it was pretty much our only expenditure on food for the week and works out at about £30 below my budget, so quids in! Our car arrived at 7 and we set off for the airport.
We arrived at the airport about an hour later and were confused to find a huge queue. We joined it and it disappated pretty quickly. Check in was painless and we had a Dunkin' Donut afterwards, before joining the very long immigration queue which took age to pass, but rewarded us with a nice purple stamp in our passports. The departures lounge was wholly unexciting, but we only had a short wait before we had to board.
The flight was fine. Lovely views over the ocean and islands on the way out, but turbulence as we came into cloudy Singapore.
At Singapore airport, we had a sneaky Burger King before getting a cab to our hotel. Hannah observed that it wasn't raining and minutes later, the heavens opened. As we got into the city, we passed Bugis station, where we had sheltered from the rain a week previous. Shortly afterwards, we arrived at our hotel.
The Madras Hotel was nice and modern; it had only opened in January. The woman behind the counter was a bit obnoxious as she told us we had managed to only book a single room, so we had to wait as they changed the reservation. We were then shown to our room and it bore a striking similarity to out Phuket room. We settled in for a bit, waiting for the rain to stop. It didn't happen, so we ventured out into the rain to the local 7-Eleven. We bought more goodies and the girls bought umbrellas. We then walked into town for a browse.
We were very cultured and went into Topshop first. Sarah bought some shorts. Then we walked into the adjoining mall and had a look in some designer stores. There were some cool shirts which I couldn't really afford, but the girls bought some for $30 each. We then walked back to the hotel.
Later, we walked to a food court around the corner and had some awesome duck noodles for $3 each. This was pretty much the first local cuisine we'd eaten in over a week. After dinner, we popped into an internet cafe. $2 for one hour in a little cubicle with webcam and all. We chatted to each other on MSN about how the cubicles were a bit odd. I looked in the recently viewed sites and found a lot of porn, which made me feel a fair bit uneasy in my cubicle. I sent a few emails and checked my facebook.
Back at the hotel, we watched a (rubbish) British comedy show called 'Just for Laughs' and then the girls watched American Idol as I fell asleep.

Day 18- Tuesday 18th March- Phuket, Thailand

We ventured out after breakfast to find an ATM to get some moneys to pay off the massive bill we were expecting when we left the hotel. We found out that there was one ten minutes down the coast, across a very busy road. As we stood at the side of said busy road, looking gormless, a traffic warden saw us, walked into the middle of the road and blasted his whistle angrily as if to say 'SLOW THE FUCK DOWN' to the traffic, which it did. He then ushered us across.
The ATM was located outside a 7-Eleven store. We've grown to love 7-eleven since we first found one in Singapore. They're everywhere in Asia; they're a bit like Londis stores, which is a godsend since it means easy access to fizzy drinks and chocolate. We bought some goodies and postcards and went back to the hotel.
I have no clue what we did for the rest of the day. I was starving so we had a very early dinner and then we watched Spirited Away in preparation for the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.
Sleep after this. That's all I remember.

Day 17- Monday 17th March- Phuket, Thailand

Another book saver day!
10am was such an effort today. I also put too much on my plate for breakfast and couldn't be bothered to finish it. Straight after breakfast, we hit the pool. We found a nice shady spot and listened to our iPods for a few hours. At 2, we ordered the usual lunch to our poolside spots. Sarah and I went on the internet for a bit.
In the evening, we rushed down to see the sunset again, but it was too cloudy and the sun disappeared before it got impressive. At 8, we watched Bowfinger with Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, before an early night.

Day 16- Sunday 16th March- Phuket, Thailand

I may as well save some book space here by being brief. It's not like I'll miss anything since we didn't do anything.
Breakfast at 10:10 and there was nothing left, so we went back to the room and back to sleep until 11:30. Went on the internet for a bit- nobody had sent me anything :(. Hannah and I went to the beach across the road. The sand was ridiculously hot and the sun incredibly bright. After twenty minutes on the sun loungers, a woman came up to us and told us we need to rent the loungers for 200THB (about £4), so we left and went back to the hotel.
We watched Curious George on HBO movies at 6pm, but at 6:30, I went by myself to the beach again to watch the sunset and took a time lapse video. After Curious George, we went down to the restaurant for some dinner and Mr. Dingh, then back up to the room to watch 'Stranger Than Fiction', which was good. The girls then watched 'Elizabethtown' and I fell asleep.
God bless HBO movies. We'd be very bored without it.

SUNSET VIDEO:

Day 15- Saturday 15th March- Phuket, Thailand

Getting up for breakfast at 10 is becoming more and more of an effort and it doesn't even really sem worthwhile since I only ever really eat a few slices of pineapple and a piece of toast from the ant infested conveyor toaster. After breakfast we went to the lobby to use the internet and sort out our student finance, which had been looming over us for a few days. We bought 3 hours of net time and had an hour each. I went first, sorted out the student finance business and then did some facebookage and emails. I got a bit worried by the fact that the student finance application asked for my passport, which, of course, I wouldn't be able to provide at all for a few months. Sarah and Hannah got theirs sorted ages ago apparently. I feel like Sarah did tell me when she did it, but I feel like if she had, it would have been a top priority, so either they were nice and didn't tell me, or I was retarded and forgot.
We were in the lobby till 1:30, then popped to the minimart down the road to buy some stuff to munch on. I'm not entirely sure where the rest of the day went. Next thing I remember is watching 'Click' starring Adam Sandler at 8pm. It was better than I remember, but still riddled with logical inconsistencies. After 'Click' was 'World Trade Center', and we all know how much I love Nic Cage, so I went to sleep.
What a thrilling day. It's not our fault though! There's nothing nearby to do! Finding the temples yesterday was a right effort. All there is around is hotels and tourist information centres full of waterskiing information and leaflets about boat rides to 'James Bond Island', which sounds exciting, but is just a rock that once appeared in a James Bond film. This is why we stay in watching movies.

Day 14- Friday 14th March- Phuket, Thailand

After yesterday's all-day laze by the pool, we decided that some exploring was in order considering that we'd seen barely anything of Thai culture or sights. We saw, on a map that we'd picked up at the airport, that Phuket town had a few shops and Thai temples. We agreed that this would be a good dose of culture.

Outside the hotel, we asked a guy with a tuk-tuk to take us to Phuket town. He said it would cost 500 Baht and we agreed, although we later realised we could've got it much lower. He took us along a route that included small towns, lovely views and then finally Phuket Town. First he tried to drop us off at a large shopping mall in the middle of nowhere, but we told him to go further. Eventually he stopped in Phuket Town and we got out and paid him. Immediately, we were approached by taxi drivers offering to take us to see sights. One dodgy looking guy told us there was nothing in the immediate area, but he would show us temples and souvenir shops for 10 baht each. We agreed and hopped in his dodgy looking car, which pretty much goes against everything we were taught as kids, made especially worse by the fact we were in a relatively dangerous country. He really did look dodgy, with crooked teeth, bloodshot eyes and a ponytail, but we got in his car nonetheless.

First he took us to a temple in the centre of town. it was kinda cool, with gold painted bits on the roof and dragons and buddhas all over the place. It was kinda small though, and it was closed so we could only walk around it and then back to our driver.
Next, he took us to some kind of department store. The staff immediately pounced on us, opening doors for us, asking how we were and showing us around. They asked where we were from and led us into the main room of the store where other tourists were being shown around. The shop attendants were nearly as bad as the ones in India, showing us stuff while we browsed and telling us why we should buy it: 'good present for mum!' they'd say, and 'England very cold! You buy scarf!'. The difference between them and the Indian shops was that we could browse to a degree whereas in India, we would be seated and presented with items we might like in a rehearsed display. Aother difference is that Thai attendants can take 'no' for an answer, whereas in India, 'no' is just the beginning of your shopping experience.
We didn't buy anything and hopped back into the car. Next, our driver (we never learnt his name) took us out of town to Chalong temple. It was a long drive and every minute I got more and more convinced and worried that he was taking us to his Mafia hideout to be killed. We did eventually arrive and were greeted by an impressively tall, shiny temple which made the previous one look like a portaloo. We had to take our shoes off before we entered the temple, and Hannah was refused entry due to the shortness of her shorts. Inside the temple were hundreds of Buddha statues. They all looked like they were made of a really tacky gold plastic, or Caramac, but all together looked pretty cool. Some people on the top floor were worshipping what looked like an eggcup in a glass case. From the top there were some amazing views, and it was incredibly bright and the floor burned our bare feet.
Back outside, there was a sudden burst of loud bangs. I genuinely thought it was gunfire at first, and our Mafia driver had opened fire, but upon further inspection we realised it was a weird wicker shell with fireworks in it. They would go off every ten minutes or so for some reason.
We explored the nearby market stalls and bought some souvenirs. I bought mum a gold fat-bellied Buddha and bought myself a cool wood necklace, proper traveller stylee. We also bought some much needed ice lollies.
Back in the car, we asked our driver if he would take us back to our hotel for 500baht. He tried to get more and we eventually settled on 600, with one last stop. I hoped that this last stop wasn't his Thai mafia base. First we stopped at a nice viewpoint atop a hill and took some awesome photos overlooking Phuket town, the ocean and some cool little islands in the distance. Next we stopped at a pewter shop much like the first store earlier that day. This one had a cool little museum about Pewter mining before the shop itself. It was about the size of my Blockbuster store back home, but we were the only customers- all day by the looks of things. Hannah bought a small wooden elephant for 130baht before we left and head back to the hotel. We paid our man his 600baht and I gave him a 'thanks for not killing us' smile before we went back up to our room and felt like we'd had a good day exploring. Then we realised it was only 2pm!
We decided to have lunch next. Since we'd run out of Green Wing to watch, we resorted to watching strange Thai TV over lunch. Hannah fell asleep shortly afterwards, so Sarah and I went to the pool.
Down at the pool, I dipped in quickly. I formed a bit of an obsession for being underwater- it felt like flying and I loved it. I was in the pool for nearly two hours before going back to the room.
Later, we decided to go see Mr. Dingh play some more music whil we ate. I had a spaghetti bolognese (which had mushrooms in- grrr) and I ordered a white russian to drink and the waiter laughed at me. I remembered that Louis had recommended white russians after I watched the Big Lebowski. I realised after ordering that I don't like vodka or milk, so it was a bad choice really. Mr Dingh loved us so much more this time that he asked where we were from before flicking through his songbook and playing Wonderwall. Half way through, the mic went crazy and feedback filled the room. He soldiered on acoustically though. Legend.
After dinner we went back to the room and watched Nanny McPhee, which was good. We began watching a film called 'Robber Bride', but got completely lost in the plot and fell asleep.